Tag Archives: Things I Love Thursday

Taking a break from training. After a weak effort last weekend, my trainer recommended I take a rest week. The only time I’ve ever taken that long off was at Christmas in 2013. So… fair call. I won’t know until next week if it’s had any effect on my lifting but I certainly feel calmer and well rested.

Netflix. We finally pulled the trigger on letting the juggernaut into our minimal TV household. It could be dangerous but lately, there’s really not much worth watching on free-to-air anyway. So far, I’m loving Chef’s Table, OITNB and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Ladies Breakfast: What started as a small group of girls from our male dominated team at work doing lunch together has been gradually morphing into a mini support circle of professional local ladies who brainstorm & troubleshoot monthly over eggs benedict. We met up this morning to work through a new idea. Exciting & energising!

Stand-up desk: It’s been 2 weeks since I inherited a stand-up desk at work & I’m loving it! My neck, back & shoulders are feeling so much better for it. I’ll have to do a post on it soon.

Yoga: I’ve had to miss a few sessions over the last couple of weeks & it was awesome to get back into it tonight.

Coming home to a massive case of wine… Woohoo!! Michael has signed us up as ‘Angels’ for NakedWines & this was our first delivery. Can’t wait to sample some new Aussie delights!

Sex addicts. Hear me out. For someone that doesn’t watch a whole lot of TV, let alone ‘reality’ rubbish, I’ve surprisingly been a bit obsessed with Sex Rehab with Dr Drew. There’s something about the incredibly tragic lives of these people that’s just so interesting to watch (and not just in a car-crash/it-hurts-but-I-can’t-look-away kind of way).

All the love, love, love that has been floating about lately – Spring this year appears to bringing out engagements, weddings & baby announcements all over the place! And speaking of…

I almost have a nephew! & judging by my sister-in-law’s belly, he doesn’t need too much more time in the oven! This is what I made for the recent baby shower – an Eeyore Nappy Motorbike! (I already have a Christmas present sorted for him too. Oh dear.) Can’t wait to meet the little guy!

Gritshed! While getting up to a 5.20am alarm isn’t my idea of a good time, throwing heavy weights around, sweating my butt off & doing 50-odd burpees before breakfast is a pretty rewarding activity. Hunger-inducing, but rewarding! The awesome Rita Ann Kerr has been doing her thing photographing us Gritters. It’s fantastic to have professional shots of everyone’s progress – it’s really motivating & helps you see how far you’ve really come. This is my favourite of the shots she’s captured of me:

Kind words in unlikely places… Like finding this message on our table in a Thai restaurant.

And on banana ice cream: OMG!? I’d seen this article from The Kitchn before but just thought it was a bit of a beat up, or that I’d need some fancy-schmancy Thermomix-style blender. Ahhh no! It is pure magic! I shared the recipe with a workmate & he’s now using it as a bribery tool with his toddler. Bribery with just a frozen, blended banana – so simple! Just make it. You’ll see.

Unashamedly flogged from blogger babe Gala Darling (who I’ve followed since forever), I present to you Things I Love Thursday. This is a love letter to all the things I’ve been digging in the last week (and a request to the heavens for more of the same!)

Getting so much stronger & more powerful through the magic of GRIT! To the uninitiated, it’s a super high intensity interval training workout that only goes for 30 minutes… but occasionally induces spews from participants. Major! This week I bumped my weights up a little, got through more push-ups on my toes & got through way more reps holding form. Loving it! This video is fairly produced but gives a pretty good overview.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxFFCUXBu40&w=560&h=315]

Getting an unexpected late birthday parcel from my brother & his wife (who were both runners up in major cheffy awards this week – clever!) It got incorrectly delivered to a friendly neighbour who thankfully did not keep the new set of Peter Alexander pjs with cute accompanying hairband for herself and came door-knocking instead. Phew!

My ever-supportive other half who doesn’t get mad when I dive into bed with frozen feet and demand he warm them up with his own bed-toasty toes

Learning & being involved in new things at work. “User experience” is a big deal at work (and for good reason – we want users to have good experiences, right?!) and today I was involved in pulling together a load of research to map out some Personas for a new project.
From UX mag:

A persona represents a cluster of users who exhibit similar behavioral patterns in their purchasing decisions, use of technology or products, customer service preferences, lifestyle choices, and the like. Behaviors, attitudes, and motivations are common to a “type” regardless of age, gender, education, and other typical demographics. In fact, personas vastly span demographics.